


Take On Me

by fabricdragon



Series: Someone To Watch Over Me [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Sentinel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Tony Stark, Don't ask me i just write stuff down, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Don't Even Know, Protective Tony Stark, Sentinel Senses, Sentinel/Guide, Sentinel/Guide Bonding, introductions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 18:41:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8928649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/pseuds/fabricdragon
Summary: Inspired by the series "Life Swings and Fluctuates"  I immediately thought about one very extraordinary archer... a man who can hit a target firing sideways, without looking: who can locate a target by  sound, or motion...Clint Barton is a Sentinel.Coulson was his bonded Guide.except Coulson is dead....





	1. We're Talking Away

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Life Changes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/495141) by [Lady Angel (dameange)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dameange/pseuds/Lady%20Angel). 



Chapter 1

Clint came back from the blue wash into combat‑senses already screaming in overload. They took down the Chitauri, and they took down Loki, and somehow, someway, he managed to not shoot Loki right there.

Oddly, it was Stark’s amused reaction to being asked for a drink that did it, somehow‑ the sheer absurdity of it, or maybe he was just out of adrenaline. He felt empty and unsettled at some soul-deep level, and he just followed everyone else. He felt broken.

They ate, and having Natasha in contact helped. _God, if I’d hurt her I would have cut my own throat._   Stark insisted on them all coming back to the tower to sleep.

“Isn’t it kind of... wrecked?” Captain America asked.

“Meh, only a few floors,”  Stark shrugged.  “You got a better plan?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Clint said tiredly‑ _although it was tempting‑_ “I have to get back to Coulson.” Natasha tensed, and everyone at the table looked at him‑ then most of them looked away.

“He… he didn’t make it,” Steve said gently.

Clint had just stared numbly at him for a beat, and then started shaking. “’Tasha?”

“I’m sorry, Clint.  I‑“

He didn’t hear anything after that.  He woke up in S.H.I.E.L.D. medical, screaming and trying to claw his skin off.

~

“No, Fury, you listen to me and you listen RIGHT NOW,” Stark said snarling at the man, and being backed by the rest of the team. “I want to know where he is, I want to know what’s wrong, and I. Want. Him. BACK.”

Steve didn’t quite know how he’d ended up here.  Stark had been irrationally averse to letting Barton out of his sight. _I mean he’d never even met the man before he’d been freed from Loki’s control, but for some reason he was driven.  In any event, he was part of the team, and it seemed reasonable to insist on at least a… status update, right?_

Bruce didn’t know why Tony wanted to do this, but… Well, he didn’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D., and he didn’t like anyone being hidden away in military medical‑ and besides, for some reason he’d follow Tony anywhere.  To be honest, he knew why: Tony wasn’t afraid of him, and the Big Guy… liked him.

Natasha just stood there, silently.

Fury leaned back. “Stark, you are a pain in my ass.  I lost one of my best friends, and I’m about to lose HIS best friend.  Give it a rest.”

“Let’s try this again, Fury.” Tony Stark felt a level of anger and hatred boiling in himself that he hadn’t felt since the Ten Rings. “You can give me Barton, or Pepper takes the footage of the nuke, and the order, and me taking it through the wormhole, and it goes LIVE in New York City.”

Steve gasped; even Natasha recoiled; and Bruce put a hand on Tony’s shoulder, only to yank it away like it was white hot.

Fury stared at him, “Are you serious, Stark? That would…”

“Kill thousands of people‑ maybe more‑ destroy the government, topple S.H.I.E.L.D., and who knows what else.  You want to give me Barton now?”

“He’s a dead man, Stark; he just hasn’t stopped breathing yet.”

“WHY?!” Tony snarled.

“I… thought any answers should come from you, Director,” Natasha said slowly.  “Stark has been like this all night.”

Fury sighed, and sat back. “Alright, I’ll tell you‑ only because Barton and Coulson should have been on your team.  Coulson was supposed to be the Avengers’ handler.”

Everyone else just nodded‑it made perfect sense‑ but Tony howled incredulously, “AGENT?! You are SHITTING me Fury. I barely tolerated the man because Pepper liked him.”

“Only YOU could dislike Phil, Stark. Everyone loved him: he was a level 6.”

“I thought he was a level 8 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Sir?” Steve asked. “He said that once.”

“Level 8 Agent; Level 6 Guide.”  Fury sighed. “Let me explain, but you have to understand this is classified.”

“Fuck that. Where’s Barton?” Tony glared at Fury.

“I will actually take you to him, Stark, once I explain why you can’t help him.”  He sighed. “There exist two extraordinary gifts:  we call them Sentinels and Guides.”  He gestured at the chairs.  Everyone took one except Tony, who kept pacing and glaring at Fury, and the door.

“Sentinels have extraordinary senses. Among other things their touch, hearing, and sight are impossibly acute.  The more powerful a Sentinel is, the more intense their gifts… and the worse their problems.  They are valuable in combat, but they get overwhelmed‑ their systems overload, most of them end up using drugs to try to numb their senses, and eventually… they die.”  Fury rubbed a hand across his face.  “We rate them from a 1 to a hypothetical 10, but the highest score on record is an 8.

“Barton.”


	2. Today’s Another Day To Find You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone likes Captain America

“What?”  Steve asked, “But…”

“Lower level Sentinels usually have only one sense enhanced, or their senses are only slightly enhanced,” Fury said tiredly. “A Level 6 Sentinel has all five senses enhanced, and is capable of frankly superhuman feats.”

“Like a Super Soldier?” Steve asked slowly.

“The Super Soldier formula was an attempt to create a stable Sentinel, Captain.  You are, thus far, the only success.”

“I hope no one else ever tries,” Steve said quietly.

“Still not getting Barton here,” snarled Tony.

Bruce put a hand out; Tony moved closer and let him touch him. Bruce still felt like his hand was going to burn off.

Bruce said quietly, “I think I’m proof that they did try.”

“You are,” Fury said nodding, “and so is Natasha.”

Everyone turned to look at her then, even Tony.

“I’m… stable.” She nodded. “But I have to retreat from people‑ a lot.  I get overloaded and… Let’s just say that like the usual Sentinels I am not social.  Barton is unusually social, or at least…” She choked back something that might have been a sob, “Coulson…”

Fury sighed, “Coulson was his Guide.”

“He helped me, as well, as best he could.” Natasha nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, all very nice. BARTON,” Tony insisted.

“FINE!” Fury slammed his hand down. “You can be there. He’s scheduled to be euthanized.”

Bruce surged to his feet, going green, and Tony locked his hand around Bruce’s arm. “No.” Bruce took comfort in that: Tony for damn sure wasn’t going to let anything happen.

Natasha opened the door and said quietly, “Without Coulson, it will be a mercy.”

Fury spoke along the way, in the rare occasions when no one else was in the hallway. “Guides are like empaths: they can calm a Sentinel.  The BEST teams are actually bonded in some way, but that depends on… finding a combination of compatible power levels, and personalities.  Coulson was a Level 6 Guide:  one of the most powerful on record.  He made everyone calmer being around him.”

“Well, maybe that’s why Pepper liked him. I thought he was an asshole.”

“He could calm ME down, Stark.  You’re just a special type of‑“

Stark actually stumbled slightly. “YOU? Wait, you’re one of these Sentinel people?”

Fury looked at him and then kept walking. “I always end up talking too much around you, Stark.  You aggravate the hell out of me, but for some reason I think you’re worth keeping alive; I may be slowing down in my old age.  YES, Stark, I’m a Sentinel:  Level 5.  I can function without a bonded Guide, as long as we keep enough Guides around.  Phil was insanely powerful: he could keep Barton calm and functional because they had bonded, but he could keep most of the Helicarrier working together and staying calm.”

“They keep people calm?” Steve asked, trying to follow this.

“Yes.  Generally we identify Guides because everyone around them acts like…” He palmed a door lock, and the biometrics let  them in.  Once they entered, the halls and signs were in different colors. 

A woman came up immediately. “Director? Sentinel Barton burned through the last dose of suppressant in 3 hours.  It’s taking less time each dose.”

Fury turned and punched a wall. “Damn it!”

Tony looked around, dubiously. “This is KNOWN? All this… Sentinel, Guide stuff?”

The woman looked startled at him and then back at the Director. “I’m sorry; I assumed they had been briefed since they’re in our wing.”

“They were just getting briefed.  Please take us to Agent Barton.”

 “You… You’re Captain America?” The woman said smiling up at him.

“Yes, Ma’am… sorry, Doctor.”

“You’re Level 2, right?”

“What?”

She looked over at Fury.  He sighed, “Rogers, you were a Level 2 Guide, before the Formula boosted you. We suspect that’s why it worked: you were enough of a Guide to be able to hold together as the serum changed you.  We don’t know, we… we think so.”

Tony stopped and stared at Steve. “Everyone likes being around you.”

“Well, that’s just‑“

“Is that this Guide business?” Tony snapped at Fury.

“Probably?  Maybe?  People like being around Guides, they make people happy,”  the woman‑doctor‑ said.

“So why can’t he be a Guide for Barton?”

“I told you, the more powerful the Sentinel the harder it is to balance them out.  Usually the only way it works, with a less powerful Guide, is a bond, and that’s… not something you can make happen.”

“And his bonded Guide was Coulson.”

“Have you got anything to LOSE?” Tony challenged.

Fury looked at him thoughtfully. “Before Coulson, Barton went through Guides, and handlers, the way you go through socialites, Stark.”

Stark bristled. “A lot of women are very happy to spend a night or two, Fury: that doesn’t mean it was anything else; and I haven’t seen anyone but Pepper since I got back from Afghanistan, anyway. Now, do you want to discuss my dating habits? Or try to find Barton a Guide he can work with and… and fix whatever the problem is.”

The doctor looked at Stark. “You… don’t understand, do you?” She looked sympathetic. “Right now Sentinel Barton is on overload‑ his senses are going into overdrive.  We have him in a low sound, low light, highly filtered environment, and he’s still going insane.  We don’t know if even his Guide could have saved him, because we don’t know what the mind control did, but with his Guide dead….”

“So? You have what to lose? Throw Spangles here in and see if it helps.”

She looked thoughtful, and nodded. “Anyone going into containment needs to shower: we have scent blocking soaps.”

Steve nodded. “I may not understand all of this, but if I can help…”

Fury nodded slowly. “You’re right, Stark.  It’s worth a try.  A Level 2 usually wouldn’t have a chance in hell with anything over a Level 4, but… we don’t KNOW what the effects will be with the Super Soldier formula, and if they can bond…” Fury nodded at him. “There’s an observation area, so people can observe without bothering a Sentinel.”

Steve followed the Doctor to the showers, and the rest of them walked through into observation.

 


	3. It’s No Better To Be Safe Than Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I always have to quote Casablanca...

Looking down into the medical bay was a nightmare for Bruce. It was white, and empty, with sound baffles on every available surface, and a heavily padded hospital bed in the middle of the floor.  Strapped into that bed was Clint Barton.  Whatever sedatives they were giving him in that IV weren’t working.

Tony helped Bruce get settled, “It’s Ok, Bruce… we’ll fix this.”

The nurse, or orderly, who’d come in with them just shook his head. “At this level of overload?  Even a high level Guide would have trouble. Literally his only hope is a bond.”

Steve came through into the room, still damp, wearing something like a skin tight white leotard. “Clint?”  he said softly.

Clint had already been thrashing more when he came in, now he jerked as though shocked. Natasha hissed. The orderly shook his head.

Fury sighed, “We won’t know until he touches him.”

Steve walked up and reached out a hand, taking hold Of Barton’s wrist.  Barton arched off the bed as if he was having a seizure.  Tony blasted the observation window and threw himself into the room.

Natasha started to scream and silenced herself: with the window broken, if the sound of shattering glass hadn’t already deafened him, her scream would shred his ears.

“God DAMN it, Stark!” Fury shouted.

Tony ripped Steve away‑the surprise making it possible‑ and grabbed Barton’s hand. “Stay WITH me, damn it! I’m not losing anyone!”

Barton collapsed.

Fury sagged into a chair. “What time are we calling it, Doctor?”

He waited to hear, but after several seconds ticked by he looked up.  The doctor was standing in the room staring at a pad in disbelief. “Director… Sentinel Barton appears to be stabilizing.  Why didn’t anyone tell me this man was a Guide?”

“What?” Fury said quietly, and then tracked over to the bed. 

Stark was holding Barton’s wrist, with his other hand placed over Barton’s chest. He was looking down at Barton and muttering, “Not losing anyone else, never again, never, do you hear me?”

Steve was standing up and looking over at the shattered wall. “I… I’m guessing this is working?”

Natasha had walked to the opening in shock. “Stark?  STARK?  He’s the opposite of calm!  He’s infuriating, and obnoxious, and aggravating!”

Fury shook his head in disbelief, “He’s also volatile, self-obsessed, and doesn’t play well with others, Agent Romanov.  Not traits a Guide HAS.”

Bruce stood up and said loudly. “You know, I’m pretty tired of hearing all of you put Tony down.”  He moved over to the broken wall and stepped through. “Doctor?”

“Yes?”

“What traits does a Guide have?  Technically?”

“They make people happy.  They tend to make people calmer: we find a lot of our Guides by looking for abnormally mellow groups‑“

“I think you may be wrong,” Bruce said calmly, looking at Tony.

Fury and Natasha walked through the broken glass‑ no reason not to, now.

“You only just found out about this, Doctor Banner, and you’re telling Doctor Merona she’s wrong?”

“Tony makes people very happy, Director.  You said yourself: despite all the aggravation, you still let him stay‑ you LISTENED to him.”  Fury straightened up and started looking at him more intently. “He kept ME calm, after all, and he knew‑ somehow, just knew‑ I wasn’t a threat.

“And the Big Guy adores him.”

“The who?” asked the doctor.

“I’m the Hulk.”

She took two steps backward before she could stop herself, and looked at Fury, who nodded.

The doctor said hesitantly, “Guides… well a POWERFUL guide‑ Level 5 or higher‑can be very dangerous. They can convince people to do things…”

“Like Tony.” Bruce nodded. “Would it explain insane levels of loyalty? People putting up with behavior that they usually wouldn’t put up with?”

“Maybe?  Guides are usually very calm, laid back‑“

Steve snorted, “Well Stark isn’t that.”

“Tasha?” Came a weak voice from the bed.  Natasha vaulted an orderly and skidded to a stop by Clint’s bedside.

“I’m here.”

“Coulson?”

“No, Clint….”

“But I can feel  him… something’s…” His eyes opened and he tracked down to Tony , still holding his wrist with a hand on his chest.

“Hey, Katniss.  Glad to have you back.”

“You’ve got to be kidding…” Clint stared at Tony and then at Natasha, who just nodded.

Fury walked over. “Apparently Stark is a Guide‑although the idea is ludicrous‑ and he brought you back down.”

Bruce, looking over Doctor Merona’s shoulder at the pad, said, “It occurs to me that he was doing this to some extent yesterday.”

“What?” Doctor Merona looked at Bruce. “Explain.”

“Once we got out of combat, Agent Barton was calmer, and eating, in a restaurant… where there was noise.” Bruce nodded at everyone. “He held it together until Natasha told him about Coulson and then he passed out.” Bruce looked at Fury and raised an eyebrow. “I think Tony must have been stabilizing him a bit then.”

Tony, who still hadn’t moved, grumbled, “I told you not to take him anywhere.” Barton was just staring at him with a rather dazed expression.

One of the other people‑a technician of some sort, apparently‑ said, “You’re Tony Stark.”

“Yup.”

“Wild parties, huge expos, big explosions? Tony Stark?”

“Yup.”

“You’re a GUIDE?”

“Beats me, only just heard about this stuff today.” Tony turned around, still holding Clint’s wrist. “So why don’t you guys  put together a briefing or something for AFTER we get Barton back to my damned tower where he should have been this whole time.”

Barton just shook his head slowly, “Stark? Stark is a guide?” ‑but he didn’t try to pull his hand loose.

“Excuse me, Mr. Stark,” Doctor Merona  asked, sounding like she was testing something, “but… Can you explain why you are being so protective of a Sentinel you just met, if you didn’t even know about this?”

Tony frowned. “He’s part of my team,” said in a tone that would be used to say “water is wet, yes.”

She smiled softly. “Director?  High level Guides are often territorial about ‘their’ Sentinels and other people.  Guide Coulson got very defensive about ‘HIS’ team, too.”

Fury stared at her, “Are you saying this isn’t a bond?”

“Oh, I’m certain it IS a bond, Director.  I can tell you for sure with a blood work up and the usual, but… I suspect we’re going to find that Mr. Stark is at least a level 4 Guide.” She glanced at Bruce. “And I’m betting on the equal of Coulson.”

“Don’t care,” Tony said firmly. “This is no place for playboy billionaires,”‑ he nodded at Bruce‑ “genius physicists, or the rest of them. I’m taking Barton and we’re going home.”

Fury started, “You are going to stay right here‑“ but  the doctor cut him off

“No, Director. As chief medical officer in the Sentinel program, I’m over ruling that.  Sentinel Barton nearly overloaded and died. If his Guide says he needs to go home, then as per the usual regulations governing bonded Sentinels? They go.”  She turned to Tony. “Mr. Stark, I’m sorry this is dropping on you like this, but I am very glad you were here.  I’m afraid your life just got a lot more complicated.”

Tony looked suspiciously at her. “What are you talking about?” He was still holding Barton’s wrist.

“I’ll put together a… I’ll put together a briefing.  I also want to get in touch with some of the usual counselors‑“

Tony curled his lip, “I don’t like counselors.”

“Sentinel/Guide counselors,” she said, looking as though the lack of sleep in the past day was finally catching up to her. “Until then, take your Sentinel home, Mr. Stark.”

Barton just stared up at Tony, “Uh... hi… We… we weren’t introduced, I guess. I’m Clint Barton.”

Tony grinned, “Yeah? I’m Tony Stark.” He did his best Humphrey Bogart impression, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is from the song "Take On Me" by a-ha  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914


End file.
